Pecking Order

Georgia tops nation in chicken industry

Posted: Sunday, September 19, 2004

By Vicky EckenrodeMorris News Service

The egg came first for Georgia, but now it's all about the rest of the chicken. Despite seeing its egg-laying industry move to the Midwest where feed costs are lower, Georgia continues to dominate the nation's broiler market, hatching more than 1.3 billion chickens last year.

The state used to be No. 2 nationally in terms of egg production but has slipped to eighth. Bolstered recently by low-carb fads like the Atkins and South Beach diets, the top-producing state for eggs is Iowa, which also leads the nation in corn production.

While most of Georgia's chicken production is concentrated in the northwest part of the state, 103 of the state's 159 counties each now generate more than $1 million worth of poultry annually, and improvements in cooling technology for poultry houses are increasing the industry's presence in counties farther south.

"It's very important to the economy of Georgia," said Don Dalton, president of the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, a trade group based in Tucker, Ga. "Every county has some poultry in it."

For example, five of the top 10 private employers in Clarke and surrounding counties are poultry-related, according to the state Department of Labor. In Athens, those companies include Goldkist and Pilgrim's Pride, both poultry processors, as well as Merial Ltd., an animal pharmaceutical company.

While the area's economic developers say the companies generate a significant number of jobs, they are not actively looking for new entrants.

"We are not currently recruiting any additional poultry companies, and the reason for that is the companies that we have here are basically involved in poultry processing," said Drew Page, president of the Athens-Clarke County Economic Development Foundation. "Poultry processing takes a lot of water, and we don't have a lot of excess water to devote to a particular industry."

Statewide, the growth of poultry will depend on the industry's ability to export to foreign consumers and stifle trade disputes with countries like Russia and China, Dalton said.

"The likelihood that we're going to put any more chicken down the throat of U.S. consumers is dim," he said. "We're putting 79 pounds down there now."

The 79.4 pounds the average American eats in a year significantly outweighs the 19.5 pounds eaten by a person in other developed countries.

Dalton said that Brazil is emerging as a strong competitor for domestic poultry farmers. And while Thailand has seen a slowing of its chicken production because of bird-flu outbreaks and subsequent import bans, Dalton predicted the country will eventually become a tremendous exporter, primarily to Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong.

"We're depending on exports more than anything else to increase the consumption of poultry worldwide," he said.

Chicken economy

The 10 largest private employers in Clarke and surrounding counties according to the state Department of Labor: